Warner Bros. Wants Joaquin Phoenix As ‘Batman vs. Superman’ Villain

Warner Bros. wants Joaquin Phoenix (Her, Gladiator) to be in the still untitled Batman vs. Superman pic with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. Who he might play, however, is still up in air.

Photo credit: Michael Muller

Variety‘s sources can’t confirm which role Phoenix would play, but they say Warner Bros. is eyeing the Oscar-nominated actor for the main bad guy and if were going off the current rumor mill, that would be Lex Luthor. While names like Jason Momoa (“Game Of Thrones”) and Callan Mulvey (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) have been thrown around, odds are they wouldn’t be the main baddie because WB needs someone who can play the meaty, mean, and dangerously clever Luthor the way Michael Shannon did with Zod in Man Of Steel.

Phoenix has said zero about this but the word is he’s been offered a role in Gus Van Sant’s upcoming Sea Of Trees and since he’s been leaning toward more “serious” films these days, it’s anyone’s guess if this is gonna be the blockbuster that brings him back.

And seeing how he was the perfect bastard in Gladiator, I think he’d bring us a Luthor we’ve never seen before; we could be talking “Heath Ledger as Joker” levels of awesome.

It might be interesting to see family fighting each other on film as Phoenix’s sister (Summer) is married to Affleck’s brother (Casey)…ooooooh, right??

Speaking of keeping it in the family, Warner Bros. has enlisted Oscar-winning writer Chris Terrio (above) to polish up the script. Seeing as how the last time Affleck and Terrio teamed up (for Argo) Terrio took home Best Adapted Screenplay and Affleck snagged Best Picture, it’s sounding more and more like the winning combination WB so desperately needs to make not only a successful Superman film, but a successful crossover film as well.

David Goyer (Blade trilogy, Christopher Nolan’s TDK trilogy) wrote the first draft of the screenplay based on characters created by Superman’s Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and (of course) Batman co-creator Bob Kane, but sources tell Hollywood Reporter that Terrio has been brought in to punch up the script as Goyer’s had his hands full lately with other DC titles including Neil Gaiman’s Sandman – with Joseph Gordon-Levitt sitting as producer, director, and star.